Garment hanger



April 1T, 1950 J. H. RoTHERAlNE 2,503,844

GARMENT HANGER Filed June 1, 1945 JNVENTOR. Jem/ne BaMa/vine Patented Apr. 11, 1950 y UNITED 'STATES PATIENT OFFICE 503,844 GARMENT HANGER Jerome Rotheraiiie, Philadelphia, Pa.. Appucaus June 1;1945, serial No. 597,037

` 3 Claims. f 1

- My invention relates to a garment hanger, and

relates 'particularly to a garment hanger which will also serve as a stretcher of the garment. Heretofore, garment hangers have been made of the type to support a coat by draping it over the hanger, and the hanger also supports trousers either by means of clamps or by placing the trousers or skirt over the hanger cross bar. These hangershave advantages, such as cheapness and vease of placing garments thereon and they are popularly used.

Hangers, also, have been made to vstretch the garment, but they have not been able to sup'- port a coat while stretching a pair of trousers or a skirt.

1 It is an object of my invention to provide a gar# ment supporter which will retain and stretch a pair of trousers and which, also, will support a .vest and coat.

Another object of my invention is to provide a garment hanger which is made of wire which will not crease nor will it cut into the held garment.

Another object of my invention is to provid-e a' garment hanger which is easily handled, so that a garment may be insertedthereon and which will have releasably gripping jaws.

Other objects of my invention are to provide an improved device of the character described, that is easily and economically produced, whichv is sturdy in construction, and which is highly eilicient in operation.

With the above and related objects in view, .my invention consists in the details of construction and combination of parts, as will be more fully understood from the following description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which- Fig. 1 is a front view of a garment hanger embodying a stretcher as well as a garment supporter.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1 showing only one jaw 4of the clamp AI. A

Fig. 3 is a wire tie member lin its preformed condition.

Fig. 4 isa fragmentary end view of the device of Fig. 1 grasping a garment. .L

Fig. 5 is an exaggerated exploded view in single line diagram of each of the wires comprising the garment hanger. 1 l;

Referring now in detail to the drawing, I show a garment hanger made of wire, which wire is approximately 1A; inch in diameter and which, for the purposes of appearance, may be nickel 2 plated or lacquered, in order to enhance the appearance of the hanger by making it more attractive and also rust-proof. l

A wire, generally designated as A, is bent at its 5- center to form a hook II) whereby the garment supporter may be suspended, and from the hook the wire is bent to form parallel arms I2, I4v on which a coat or vest may be hung. The arms I2, I4 of wire A are curved inwardly near their ends in a C shape as at I5, and then the tip I6, IGA of each arm I2, I4 is bent toform an oval, eye, or circle. It is to be lnoted that there are two tips or ends I6 and ISA, of wire, parallel to one another, which form a clamp AI A loop or locking slide I8 encircles both and slides along arms I 2, I4 of the wire, and the ends I8, IGA forming clamp AI are sprung from one another, and in order to lock a garment therebetween, the clamp or locking slide I8 is moved 29 towards the oval end of each wire. On each oval Aend I6, IEA, I place a substantially iiat piece of metal or plate 2Il,which serves as the cover for that particular end of the wire. Each of the fiat covers 20, on ends I6, IA, face one another and are parallel to one another so that when a gar--4 ment is hung between them, the holding plates clamp but will not indent, mar, or cut the fabric of the garment which isbeing held.

A second wire, designated as B, forms the other 3 0 side of the garment hanger and it is bent at the center 22 to have overlapping, parallel portions, which are engaged by one arm 24 of a rigid Y- shaped holding clamp, generally designated as C, which is in the shape of an inverted Y. 35 The clamp Chas two other clamping arms 26 and 28 which will lbe hereinafter further described; The wire B running parallel to itself as wires 3l), 32 4isshaped to extend laterally outwardly to im ,support a portion of a garment such as a coat; and adjacent its ends the wire is curved inwardly as at 34; and thetips ofeach wire 38, 32 ar overturned or oval shaped.

The wires I2, 30 are in substantially one planer .45 and the wires I4', 32 are substantially in another vertical plane. Separate atpieces of metal or. plates 20, engage each oval end of the wires 30 and 32, which at pieces are similar tothe hereinbefore described covers or plates 20, all of 50 which are employed for the same purpose. The ends of each plate partially encircle the Wire to be self sustaining. A second locking slide I8 is telescoped over arms "'30, 32 of the wire B so that as the lock I 8 is moved towards the end, it brings 55 the fiat metal covers 20, 20 on each Wire 30, 32

adjacent one another as clamp BI to lock a portion of a garment therein.

A third piece of wire, generally designated as D, is grasped by the side arms 2B and 28 of the Y clamp, and from the center extending to each side in the same plane are side arms 38, 48 which lie beneath the arms formed on wires A and B. The tip of each of the arms 38, 48 is bent in an oval manner similar to end I6 of arm A, A cover plate 2B, also, covers the tip of each arm 38 48.

A fourth piece of wire, generally designated as E, is complemental to the wire arm D and it has arms 42 and 44 parallel to arms 38 and 40, re-

arms 42 and 44 are oval shaped andare covered with non-marring plates 2B. A locking slide I8 is telescoped by arms 38, 42 and another locking,

slide I8 is telescoped by arms 48, 44.

Wire hanger and the cross-bar tightly grasps the garment when the sliding ring I8 tightens the bars.

As another modication of my invention, I may omit the wires D and E and I still will have a combined coat and skirt or trouser hanger and stretcher.

Although my invention has been described in considerable detail, such description is intended as being illustrative rather than limiting, since the invention may be variously embodied, and the A scope of the invention is to be determined as claimed.

I 'claim as my invention: 1. A garmenthanger comprising a plurality of strands of wire, one wire bent upon itself to have its=center-forma suspending hook, the ends of The arms 38, 42 form a clamp DI andarms 48,

44 form a clamp EI. The wires A, B, D and E are 'heldtogetherby the Y-clamp C to form a double skirt hanger and stretcher as well as a coat hangerl The above is achieved by the arm 24 of Y clamp lC holding wires A, B, together at a point below the hook I8, the arm 26 of the Y clamp C holds the wires A, D, and E together adjacent the center of the hanger, and arm 28- of the Y clamp C holds wires B, D and E together adjacent the center of the hook. Hence a unitary coat hanger is formed. The wires A, B, D, and E all have a certain degree of resiliency and the wires are formed to serve as arms of a coat hanger and also to serve as locking jaws with the wires A forming one set of jaws AI the wire B forming another set of jaws BI, and the ends of the Wires D and E forming sets of jaws DI and EI. The complemental arms of clamp AI, that is, the arms which press against a side of a garment, are I2 and' I4; a second clamp BI is formed of arms 38, 32; arms 38, 42 form clamp DI and arms 48, 44 form a clamp El. Hence a pair of trousers may be held at' one end by clamp AI and the other end of the trousers is held by clamp BI and at the same time a skirt may be held at one end by clamp DI and the otherV end' of the skirt is heldby `c1amp EI In operation to hang a skirt on the ends of the coat hanger, the sliding locks I8, I8 are moved towards the Y member, the garment is'placed between the clamping ends of clamp AI of wires A and then locked by sliding hook I8 towards the ends of the wires A, thus locking one portion of the garmentv in place. The wires are slightly sprung or stressed inwardly, that is', towards one another, and clamp BI tightened about the skirt thereby tightly lgrasping two ends of the garment. When the holding external pressure is released, the wires will have a tendency to spring outwardly, thereby stretching the garment as well as holding it.

The wires of each complemental holding clamp must be bent so that the sliding lock I8 tends to bring the plates 28 on the ends adjacentone another.

- As a modication of my inventioml may place a 35 2,398,138,

separate rigid cross-bar between theends 'of the said wire substantially parallel to one another to form a pair of jaws to serve as a holding clamp, a locking slide adapted to embrace both parallel portions of"said wire, whereby saidpair of jaws'rnaybe lockedftog'ether', a second wire bent upon itself to 'have'a central portion and its ends substantially parallel to one another to form a second pair of jaws'to serve as a second holding clamp, a second locking slide adapted to embrace both parallel portions of said wire whereby said second pair of jaws may be locked together, and means to'hold the center portions of each of said wires together wherebyV the clamping 'jaws' of each wire are spaced apart to form the ends ora garment hanger, the ends of each Wire being downturned to be resilient whereby the clamps may be bent towards one 'another' when attaching the clamps to a garment so that .when the force of bending the clamps is released the clamps will stretch the-'article held'therein. '2; My invention as set forth in claim 1 including the ends of each wire being looped.v upon itself, an individual plate being mounted upon each of said looped ends to present a smooth surface, .and each plate overlapping each' side o the wire to present a smooth surface.

REFERENCES ACITED Theffollowing references are of record in the rilel of this patent; i v- 4.llllvil'llltSTATES' PATENTS Number Name Date '496,738 Jourdan May 2, 1893 v 598,609 'Y Sampson Noi/16, 1897 717,147 Walter Dec. 30', 1902 858,298 Liberty June 25, 1907 1,526,692 Bohdal Feb.y 1'?, 1925 2,261,819 Zeuthen Nov. 4, 1941 

